Typical conventions

Wordle

Evaluation question 1

1.      The conventions of a typical thriller are that there is usually a murderer who is male, also that there is always a sense of mystery in a typical thriller. The sound which is used in a thriller is mostly quiet and tension building and the mise-en scene is usually dark and gloomy. The camera shots used in a typical thriller are emotion showing such as close ups or either they are long shots to show either isolation or something in the background that may be relevant to the film later. Our thriller produced was a very professional production due to the storyline and also the different shots taken really added to the thriller concept. Thrillers such as ‘Shutter Island’ and ‘No Country For Old Men’ inspired us to make our thriller to follow the psychological route of a thriller genre. This inspired us because of it being a good genre and it is exciting to watch. It was conventional in some aspects such as the sounds which were intensifying and spine tingling.

A thriller is a type of genre which is meant to scare the viewer without the blood and brutal killing. If there were these elements it would be classed a horror 18. Many people enjoy watching thrillers due to the intense thrill of finding out what is going to happen.

Typical conventional shots for a thriller are close ups of peoples faces is used to show emotion or it is used as a shock tactic. Also mid shots and others which show the main parts of the scene. We included most shots to add tension and emotion such as when did a close up on the persons eyes, you feel uneasy and shocked due to the colour of the eyes. We used this right at the end of the scene so they will want to know why that happened. Also the sound we used added also to the tension due to the screams and the snake hisses did create the story of the film.

Evaluation question 2

1.      In our thriller we wanted the main character to be mysterious and scary. We achieve this by adding a cloak so you are unable to see her face and when it does an extreme close up of her eyes it showed her eyes were like a snake.

Our thriller is very different because that it was a young girl as the protagonist, it is not very conventional compared to films such as Shutter Island because the protagonist is a woman not a man. Also the props, lighting and location were used well because it added tension of the thriller because it is very dark and closed off so it gives the sense of isolation. That the lighting is very dark and the props used are quite gothic, which adds to the psychological aspect of the thriller.

Evaluation question 3

   The media institution which I believe would distribute our film would be Miramax because they are institutions who have experience in distributing thrillers for example ‘No Country For Old Men’. They specialise in this genre which is a good thing because they know how to promote it well and who to target it at.

Miramax is an institution which distributes films all over the world which is benefical because they know what the world prefers in a thriller and how would they recognise a film from others. They could also make it into different languages which would be better when promoting it around the world It was owned first by their founders but then was taken over by Walt Disney. They have produced many successful films which cover all genres.

Due to Miramax being a very popular institution, my second choice would be New Line Cinema because they are one of the biggest film institutions in the world and they would be able to promote our thriller very effectively. They would promote it effectively because they are one of the biggest film institutions and that they have promoted thrillers before. New Line Cinema is a subsidiary of Warner Bros and was founded in 1960. They provide motion pictures all around over.

Evaluation question 4

My audience for this thriller is for adults and teenagers. When I was doing my research I really only asked people over the age of 15 and over due to our rating being a 15. We wanted it to be aimed at both genders and that we used a female as the protagonist, women may prefer this but due to the psychological edge but I believe the male gender will prefer it. Males may prefer the psychological edge because they like watching this which are scary and which plays with the mind. From our research we found out what they like in a thriller and what makes them scared such as ghosts, snakes, rats, clowns and spiders. From knowing all of this we decided to have a woman protagonist who is young and covered in a cloak. Also by adding hisses and snakes in it made the opening scarier.

Evaluation question 5

1.      We made our thriller opening attract the audience in many ways.  For example we did an extreme close up on the actors eyes so you were able to see the strange colour of her eyes. Also the sfx we used was of a scream in the background, it added to the tension of the scene. The mise-en-scene helped attract the audience to it being isolated and dark; it added the sense of mystery to the scene. As we were editing our opening, we had to look at our audience research and this allowed us to see what would be appropriate for that opening and what the target audience would prefer in a thriller. We fulfilled the audiences needs when looking back on the questionnaire by adding tension building mpleased with this comment due to us wanting our thriller to be different and odd so it would get more attention so we were happy with the comment. We had no negative comments on the opening itself.

usic. When asked ‘What thriller genre do you prefer’? they answered psychological so this helped us decide what subgenre our thriller did. The audience feedback was very good for example someone saying it was ‘unconventional but good.’ We were

Evaluation question 6

1.      During my time making movies I have learnt a lot about the different technologies which can and need to be used to make a good thriller.

I have learnt to:

·        How to frame a shot, rule of thirds and composition

·        How lighting affects shots to add tension and make it scarier.

·        180 degree rule, match on action and continuity editing so the filming looks professional.

·        How to contrast colours, exposure and saturation to give different effects.

·        Different camera angles for different effects and views.

·        How to use a tripod so shots are steady.

·        How to use a camera so we could film our prelim, thriller and interview.

·        Exporting and importing images for filming or putting on my blog.

·        Speed and slow motion if something important is happening.

·        Converting footage

·        Use of transitions during filming.

·        Adding music to film to add tension and suspense.

·        Internet to research and get images from.

·        Blogger for coursework.

·        Use final cut to achieve an effect that couldn’t be done on iMovie.

Evaluation question 7

7. Comparing our prelim to our thriller opening allows me to see what I have learnt from doing the prelim and what and how we have developed our skills in our prelim.

The strengths of our prelim was that it was a good viewing experience, the different range of shots we did and that it was different to what others had did. It is easier to show facial emotion due to it being zoomed in and you are able to see everything in detail. Also I have developed steadying camera shots and also the match on action is better. This will make the filming more professional. Our prelim was very imaginative, I wanted the thriller to be also imaginative and on edge.

 Our thriller was very successful due to it being conventional and it keeps the viewers on edge also I believe it was successful because it managed to scare the audiernce and the audience wanted to keep on watching, this is due to the psychological edge of the opening. There are things that I would improve to make the opening scarier  when the snake is being filmed as you are able to see the carpet which makes it less intensifying but you couldn’t sort this out when editing but we did the best we could to merge it. But apart from that I wouldn’t change anything else. The strengths of our thriller was that it was exciting to watch and that most people wanted to continue watching. The only weaknesses I believe is that you can see the carpet when filming the snakes. Also I believe the lighting could have been darker but I believe that the candles gave it a psychological edge to it. Also I think it would have been better if the shots were steadier.

By Robbie Smith

Audience interviews

Our thriller opening!

The place were we shot!

These are different shots of the place where we were filming. We chose this place due to it being isolated and it is mysterious in its appearance. This added to the creepiness of the thriller and it worked well with our opening.

These are shots of when we were filming our opening. It shows different parts of the opening and how it was done. The shooting and editing went well becuase the thriller is  psaychologically thrilling and the viewers did enjoy watching it and wanting to know what happened next. They were the strengths but the problems we had to overcome was that the cropping of the snake scenes due to you being able to identify the floor on where the snake was moving.

Props, costumes, mise-en-scene for our thriller

We used these props in our thriller because the cloak would keep the character disguised so this would add to the mystery of the thriller. The candles would be the lighting for our opening and that you would be able to see different reflections on the floor and walls which would make it become more scary. Also that the board and titles will be written in chalk, this is uncommon so this may seem intriguing.

The shooting of snakes which was in our thriller opening

Our story board for our thiller